Recommended settings for Traynor YBA-3 and looking for details on tube upgrade

[Rat Blitz]

Well I just bit the bullet today and bought my first tube amp. It's one of the very early Traynor YBA-3 Custom Specials from about 1967/68 as far as I can tell.
It's tubes were recently changed (EL-34). I'm looking for some tips on dialing up a good sound. I know I should experiment but I want to use it at band jam tomorrow and I'm at work until then so I've only had 10 minutes to try it out.
Its settings are very different from any solid state amp I've ever encountered.
Front panel has two input jacks, controls for treble boost, volume, treble expander, treble, bass expander, bass, presence, and bass boost.
No mid controls.
I'm running it through ampeg 15 b series and 4x10 Yorkville cabinet.
If anyone can give me a couple tips on getting a good beefy classic rock sound I would greatly appreciate it as I won't have much time to experiment for the next while (too busy at work and trying to learn new songs ... and trying to keep my wife happy .
I have heard that some folks have upgraded the EL-34 to 6550s to push almost 200 watts out of this beast. I've looked for actually details of the upgrade but have found only broken links. I was hoping for a "bit more" volume from this amp but maybe I haven't found the optimum settings as of yet.
If anyone has precise details on the upgrade that would be also greatly appreciated.

[BassmanPaul]

Originally Posted by Rat Blitz

I have heard that some folks have upgraded the EL-34 to 6550s to push almost 200 watts out of this beast.

No they haven't! It's a 100W amp whatever output tube you "upgrade" to.

Paul

[Edword]

Have you had any chance at all to try out the amp? Mine seems to sound good (in my country band) at just about any settings. I mostly play through a Traynor Big B cab that has Jensen MODs in it. The -3A also sounds good through a Big B with original Marslands in it. I have also had good luck with a 1x15 Fender Bassman cab. I usually play a Fender Jazz, sometimes a Stingray or a Squier P with a DiMarzio Model P pickup. I like it best with the J.

Here's a link to the 6550 mod:

http://www.0rigami.com/vb/mods.html

Mine's got 6550s in it. Big, clean sound from them.

[jastacey]

Here's what settings I've been using, treble expander-7, treble-6, bass-8, bass expander-9, presence-7, bass boost-on, treble boost-off .... plugged into #1 input jack ... been using a 4 ohm cabinet and I like the sound, using a P-bass, strung with TI flatwounds, the amp I have came loaded with EH EL-34's .... they sounded O.K., I've just recently did some tube rolling and installed a set of JJ EL-34L's, it kinda has a little bolder tone, the other tube one might consider is EH 6CA7 tubes...supposedly they lack the biting mids that the El-34's are known for, another tube would be the JJ EL-34 ...... converting the amp to 6550's will not make any more power, might make it a little cleaner, but IMHO, not really worth the cost to do .... I'd roll some El-34's before I would mod the amp, lots of tube choices to do before spending money on rewiring tube sockets, and finding out you don't like the sound ..... play with the amp for 15-20 gigs before you do anything

[bolt_thrower]

If the YBA-3 is anything like the YBA-1, then the bass expander and treble expander are the mids and presence respectively.